


That Stupid Kaito Momota

by Aikona



Category: Danganronpa, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, danganronpa v3 - Fandom
Genre: Confession, F/M, Fluff, Intiating Maki, Kaito is stupid, No Spoilers, Non-Despair AU, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unrequited, college students, kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 21:16:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18374246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aikona/pseuds/Aikona
Summary: She almost wanted to laugh, seeing how silent he got in this situation, his eyes shut tightly and his lips pursed in nervousness, though she tried holding it in. Snickering slightly, Maki lead his face down further, before Momota interjected and impulsively pulled away.“Wait- are you laughing-?!” With his eyes still closed, he spoke defiantly.“Yeah- you look stupid.”“Huh?!”_____Maki struggles to get Kaito to understand her feelings.





	That Stupid Kaito Momota

Maki didn't really know when it had started. Without notice she and Momota had been spending their past-times together. It become an unspoken thing between them... a certain eye-contact, twitch, perhaps. Once the two of them could, they would go off with each other and sit in one or the other's dorms to relax. At first, meaning for six months since starting, Maki's room had been strictly off-limits. It hadn't been that she had anything to hide. Moreover, among all their silent understandings, her room had to be verbally spoken in order for Momota to have approval to enter. 

Momota had known from the start she couldn't quite make friends easily. Perhaps he used that to his advantage, yet, Maki knew he didn't think about it that way. She hated people. Momota wouldn't take that as an excuse, not for a second. He did whatever he could to get her out of that titanium shell of hers; bothering her whenever they walked the same direction in school, waving her down if they ran into each other in the streets, all the way through their academic career. Unknowingly, they had both attended the same college. Despite his looks and behavior, Momota was quite smart.

It was different. In highschool, the two of them bothered one another (mostly on Momota's end), while they ate lunch with their friends and did some mock workouts with a fellow classmate named Saihara; an equally awkward and out-of-place person as Maki, though she tried to convince herself otherwise. As soon as college had hit, and Momota discovered the co-ed dorms had contained a girl named Maki Harukawa, he had went onto his pestering once again. This time, just with a pat on her shoulder and a signal to follow. Somehow, something so mundane worked. All Maki knew was that she began to depend on that hand on her shoulder, or the eye-contact, or a point in some direction that prompted her to follow. 

When alone, she and Momota didn't do much. It wasn't as exciting as it was made out to be. 

For the most part, they studied, or merely enjoyed the company of someone else in the room, without worries of conversation. Their interactions took adjustment on both ends, as in the beginning of their silences Momota would try relentlessly breaking it with small talk- a gesture Maki had found annoying. She accepted it now. His ramblings, heroic stories of nothing... if the silence ever was to be broken with an equally empty slot of words. 

Eventually, as it may, Maki found they would no longer just sit and enjoy the company of each other. Studying was suddenly completed in her own dorm, before she went to Momota's room on her own immediately afterwards. There had never been a time when he turned away an unexpected visit. Suddenly, yet occasionally, their hands would grace each other. Or, a glance would suddenly turn into a gaze. A face would suddenly become flushed. 

And Maki would realize she was in trouble. 

She hated herself for suddenly becoming enraptured by nothingness. The nothingness of Momota's smile, his face, eyes... the way his voice raised when he was overly excited or irritated. His quick temper and way of getting lost in his emotions easily was a burden to bear... but Maki had also admired it immensely. There was no one she had ever met who met the same passion as the man who loved nothing more than the stars outside his window, nor the faith he held in his close friends. She admired it. Admiration soon evolves into poison. Recounting her faults, Maki couldn't understand for a moment why such an incredible person would waste his time in her company. Once, she asked him about it. 

"... Why are you doing this?" Sitting at the small table they used for studying, Momota looked to Maki from his view of the TV. 

"I finished studying!" He raised his voice defensively; adamantly explaining himself. Maki corrected her point immediately. 

"No. Why are you spending your time with me? Wouldn't it be much more efficient to hang out with someone loud like you?" 

Momota hadn't reacted to her prompting immediately. Instead, he scratched the side of his face, as if searching an answer himself. "... Huh? Why not? You come willingly and I let you in, and here we are. Does it need another reason other than that? You don't need to be loud to have fun, Harumaki." To this, Maki would look back to down to her work. As satisfied as she was with the response, she hated it.

It made her face burn- something she distracted herself from by latching onto her hair, messing with it relentlessly. Eventually, at some point, they had begun to open up to each other more and more. Maki confided in Momota by relinquishing her past once asked, and Momota in return confided in her about his ridiculous fear of anything supernatural. The fear of his struck her immediately as something childish... but fitting to him.

He was a man of his word, one who never looked into any hidden meanings behind things. It had been a huge shock, in fact, when Maki revealed to him that she had once been in the business of hurting people for money. He couldn’t believe it initially, going as far as punching her in the shoulder and saying, _‘that’s a good one!’_ a few times. Once the truth had sunk into his thick skull, however, Maki couldn’t seem to figure out how he could shake it off just the same. Nothing mattered to him. No… maybe it was his loyalty that got in the way of him doubting people he liked. Once he feels something, some kind of positive emotion towards someone, he’s going to stand by that emotion until that person or himself dies. He’s stupid like that. 

Maki couldn’t figure it out.

Kaito Momota, the bull-headed narcissist, never put thoughts over emotions. He did, however, refuse talk to someone for days if he got in an argument with them. Maki had seen it several times when he and Saihara had argued about something. Mostly, Saihara had been right and Momota refused to see it. Saihara always cracked first, of course, and the two of them would embrace and apologize awkwardly to one another and then be back to normal the next day. 

Maki hadn’t gotten in an argument with Momota before. Mostly because she doesn’t start anything she has a chance of losing, and because it takes too much energy. She does know for a fact that if an argument should arise, she would never roll over like Saihara does. Especially if she was right in the first place. The thought of two very prideful people being on the line was almost frightening to her. Frightening… why was it scary? It wasn’t entirely because she had to admit being wrong… it was something else. Maki suddenly didn’t want to think about it. 

On her way to Momota’s dorm after her routine, she found her head full of thoughts that normally didn’t occupy her mind. They were distracting, and nothing short of arbitrary. As she passed by windows in some hallway just short of Momota’s door, she found herself glance at her reflection. Did she look alright? A hand went up to fuss with her hair- she stopped it. 

Standing in front of Momota’s door, her knuckles hovered over the surface. 

Why was her heart pounding? Her gaze fixated to her feet, as her hand hovered dangerously over the surface of the door. Back in highschool, she had spent her time with Saihara and Momota exclusively, to the point it was stupid. Saihara wasn’t around as often anymore, since he was studying seriously to be a detective, while Momota was studying seriously to see the stars in person one day. What was she, then? Some orphan who was picked up from the street, knowing nothing but how to get her way with violence and how to pretend to fit in? 

How could Momota make so much extra time for her when he was trying to accomplish something even more ambitious than Saihara was? Maki’s mind reeled through one thought after another, worrying about each and every single little factor in her and Momota’s incompatibilities, before she was startled back to reality with the sound of his door cracking open. 

Maki’s hand shot back to her side, as her shocked face met the care-free gaze of Momota, who smiled at her in a way that told her just how much he was confused and he was happy to see her. 

“What’re ya doin’?” The door was held halfway open, and the idiot stood in his pajamas, even though it was the middle of the day. Maki remembered that he only had one class that day, which made it much easier for Momota to laze around and do nothing, but right now she couldn’t focus on anything but the fact that his collarbone was jutting out much more prominently from the tank top that he wore, and that his arms were much more defined than the last time she saw them. 

“Harumaki?” Momota’s hand reached out to poke her on the cheek, to which Maki promptly swatted away. 

“Haha, there you are! What’s wr-” Momota paused, as his eyebrows raised in surprise. 

Maki began messing with one of her ponytails, grabbing onto it and twisting it, nervously distracting herself, as she looked to Momota with a bright red face.  
“Shut up, idiot…” Her voice was less seething, and more needing. “We need to… we need to talk.” 

“U-uh, yeah! Sure! Come on in,” Momota opened the door all the way, as he moved to the side for her to enter. She looked to the side before stepping inside, as she unconsciously fiddled with her bangs before Momota could notice. She sat down in front of Momota’s bed, leaning against it, where she usually would, before noticing Momota sitting down in front of the TV, like he usually would. 

“Hey,” Maki spoke up, as she messed with her fingers in her lap. Momota looked over to her, clearly oblivious to the atmosphere. 

“Yeah-?” 

“Come sit here.” 

“But, the TV-”

“Forget the TV for a second, will you?” 

Momota blinked, before glancing to the TV, then shutting it off and sitting next to Maki on the floor. A momentary silence filled the air, as Maki took a moment to compose herself. ‘What is happening?’ She kept thinking, on repeat. It felt louder each time. She glanced over at him, and he looked to her, which made both of them look away at the same time. 

Was he nervous at all? Maybe he always acted oblivious because he actually never felt anything for her at all? Maybe, all this time… Momota had just viewed her like any other ‘guy friend’, just like Saihara? Maki clenched her hands in her lap, as she shoved down the bitter thoughts. She had never thought about anything like this before. She never worried about anything like this before, ever. 

“Momota,” Maki started, as she glanced at him to find him scratching his head like a monkey. “... Do you like anyone?” Out of all people, why him? 

“What? Oh, uhhh…” He acted like he needed a moment to remember he was on planet Earth, before considering the question seriously. “Nah, not really! I mean, sure, kinda, but. Not really. Are you gonna ask for advice? I already tried helping Saihara but that didn’t work out so great. Did you know he had a crush on Akamatsu and-”

Maki pressed a hand to her forehead, as she covered his mouth with the other. 

“No- can you just-” Everything felt hopeless. He hadn’t considered her at all. She felt bad for Saihara, as if both of them had gone through some kind of similar pain in trying to confide in this big idiot at all. Taking her hand from his mouth, Maki hugged her knees to her chest. 

“You haven’t considered me at all, huh...” Her voice sounded alien to her, as she looked to the side as if he didn’t notice. 

“Harumaki? What’d you say?” 

“Nothing, stupid!” 

“What! I’m not stupid, take that back!” 

A moment of silence passed, until a sniffle resounded in the room. 

“Huh-?! Haruma- are you crying?”

When he didn’t receive an answer, Momota grabbed Maki’s shoulder and turned her towards him so he could see better, only to be right in his assumption. 

“Wha- why? Hold on, I’ll get a tissue!” Momota began rummaging hastily in his sweatpants, as if for some reason he had crumpled up unused tissues in there. 

“I like you.” Maki spoke softly, as tears solemnly rolled down her face. 

“What? I’ve got one, here!” Momota faced her again, showing her the crumpled up tissue, before Maki grabbed onto the arm that held onto her shoulder. 

“Momota, I like you…” She said it again, her face ugly with tears and frustration, as she hit his chest with her fist softly. “You big, stupid moron…” Closing her eyes, she sniffled weakly, expecting his dumbfounded voice to tell her, ‘I like you too!’, only to add a moment later, ‘and Shuuichi, too!’ as if the three of them would be buddy-buddy forever. 

“H-Harumaki…” She didn’t want to look him in the eye. 

“I know you probably don’t get it, or feel the same way, but I didn’t want to turn out like this, either. I don’t get it, either. I’ve never been like this before,” She wiped at her tears, though they refused to fade. “I probably shouldn’t have told you anything… actually, let’s just forget it.” 

“Hey! You can’t say that! If you’re gonna confess, you better stand by it, Harumaki!” There he went again. Always putting someone else’s emotions before his own, even when he was in the middle of his own confession. 

“Momota,” Maki looked up to him, as he shared her gaze. “When I first transferred to that high school, I was prepared to just fit in and fade away. I never had real friends, and didn’t care to have them, either. But, out of nowhere, you showed up, and selfishly decided that I couldn’t be alone anymore.”

Maki’s hand shifted from Momota’s hand on her shoulder, to Momota’s face. She lowered his other hand, the one that had been holding the crumpled tissue this whole time, as she looked to him. “Let me be your shoulder to cry on, for once. Stop always doing everything on your own.” 

He was at a loss. The only other time Maki had seen the mighty Kaito Momota at a loss was when he thought there was a ghost in his closet, and refused to sleep in his own room for three nights in a row. However, Maki noticed something else. His face was flushed. 

“Momota,” Maki called to him, as he looked to her, before she shifted closer, their shoulders touching, before saying, “... Close your eyes.” He looked at her questioningly, before complying. She almost wanted to laugh, seeing how silent he got in this situation, his eyes shut tightly and his lips pursed in nervousness, though she held it in. Snickering slightly, Maki lead his face down further, before he interjected and impulsively pulled away.

“Wait- are you laughing-?!” With his eyes still closed, he spoke defiantly. 

“Yeah- you look stupid.”

“Huh?!” 

“Shhh…” Leaning closer, Maki chastely pressed her lips against Momota’s, cupping his jaw and squeezing his arm, before pulling away. She had never done that before. The two of them looked at each other, dumbfounded and red in the face. Did he like it? Maki couldn’t tell at all, though Momota finally seemed to act more serious than before, as he looked to her without trying to crack any jokes. Their faces were still very close to one another, sharing each other’s breath, before Maki leaned in slightly, and to her surprise found Momota to lean also, mirroring her actions. 

Maki leaned into Momota’s touch, as their lips met again, this time feeling Momota reciprocate properly, as Maki’s hand slid down Momota’s arm until she reached his hand, resting hers on top of it. She kissed him firmly, and he kissed back, though she felt afraid that the moment they pulled away he’d act just as oblivious as before. They pulled away, still pressed up against one another, leaning in once more for one last kiss, sweet and short, before looking one another in the eye. 

The silence had felt like an eternity, before they both realized what had just happened, as Momota and Maki abruptly turned away from each other, faces ablaze. 

“You- you kissed me!”

“You kissed me back!” 

Maki reverted to her old habit, as he messed her bangs until they practically stood up on their own, before glancing back at Momota. He still had his back facing her, though she could guess he was messing with his goatee. The two of them fed off each other’s bad habits, it seemed. 

“Does…” Maki spoke up, after a moment. “Does this mean you… like me, too?” 

“...” Momota didn’t respond, until suddenly, “... _Arrrghh!_ So lame!” He ran his fingers through his already messy hair abruptly, which made him look even more insane than he did usually. “Isn’t the guy supposed to be the one to confess? Why do I feel like I’m the one being courted??” 

Maki looked over to him in exasperation, as she crawled over to him on her knees, curious. “You’re too slow. Does that mean you made me worry for nothing? All this time, were you just pretending to be stupid?”

“Again, with the stupid! Didn’t I tell you? I’m not!” He turned to look at her, not expecting Maki to be so close. “Ah- sorr- _wait a minute!_ I was just being friendly ‘cause I didn’t wanna mess anything up! Since when did you like me, anyway?” 

Maki’s eyebrows furrowed, as her face flushed. “I’m not telling you.”

 _“What!”_ Momota’s voice raised, as he grew frustrated, as he often did when he was teased. 

“It doesn’t matter. I never wanted to like you, but I did. I do.” 

Momota still looked defiant, but his cheeks turned red. Under his breath, Momota mumbled something that was impossible to understand. 

“What?” 

“I said…” He mumbled once again. 

“Speak up!”

 _“I said!_ I… like you, too…” Momota’s voice raised, and then lowered dramatically, though finally loud enough for Maki to hear. 

“... Really?” Maki sat down, as Momota scratched the back of his head. 

“Yeah, I… guess so. I dunno! You’re really pretty, and stuff.”

“What kind of confession is that! You ‘guess so’?”

“I just said I dunno! I don’t know what to do when it comes to you, so I just try acting how I normally do with everyone else, but I didn’t wanna scare you off or something so I never said anything, ‘cause I don’t know what to say!” 

“What is there to know? You should just know!”

“But I don’t! When I first saw you, I instantly knew you were a good person, but for some reason you kept to yourself… I knew I was going to get you to come along and meet my friends, and, hell, when you, me, and Shuuichi worked out together that was the most fun I ever had! But, when you started showing up to my room, I, uh…” 

The paused made Maki search his expression. Why was he hesitating?

“I asked… Shuuichi…” He scratched the side of his face, as he avoided eye contact. “I asked him to stop showing up so often, so…” 

Maki blinked, as she suddenly shared his same embarrassment. 

“That’s why I didn’t sit directly next to you! I don’t know what I should do, so…! You’re really sweet, Harumaki. You do everything you can for your friends, even if you don’t show it sometimes. Haha... I really like you, too!” He smiled brightly at her, before placing both hands on her shoulders. It was as if, after saying everything he wanted to say, he got all of his strength and bravery back. Maki was suddenly moved by what he had to say, as she felt tears burn in the back of her eyes. 

Maki reached her arms out, as Momota pulled her into a hug. She pressed her face against his shoulder, as she felt instantly comforted by him. Pressing her eyes shut, she relaxed. She hadn’t noticed before, but he smelled nice. It was almost overpowering, in a way, as if he used way too much cologne and was absolutely soaked in it, but somehow she still found it comforting.

They were both stupid, but they were stupid together.


End file.
